Soi Twilights Banana Bar to close March 29th

[frequent]

As an aside - Many years ago (back in 1987) I visited BKK for the 1st time and went to some Disco which was I think in Soi 4.
I got picked up by some guy and we ended up back at my cheap hotel and etc... Does anyone remember the name of that Disco?

The Rome Club. Ah, those were the days

[Smiles]

That's a first.

[Oliver2]

The Rome Club achieved notoriety by banning gays. Predictably, it soon closed.

[kittyboy]

The Rome Club achieved notoriety by banning gays. Predictably, it soon closed.

Rome club.
That was the one. It was so many years ago i dont remember much about the trip.
It sounds egotistic but damn i was hot 32 years ago and was having fun with lots of thai guys on that trip in 1987. Sadly i am not like fine wine.. i have aged but gotten a bit more vinegary. I lie to myself and say i am now like balsamic vinegar.

[Jellybean]

I don't recall The Rome Club, kittyboy, perhaps it ended before I started holidaying out in Thailand, which I think was 2003 or 2004. But speaking of trips, from what you say, it sounds like Thailand in the 80’s was a bit like the 60’s in the USA and UK where it is said, if you remember the 60’s, then you weren’t there.

[Oliver2]

I'm not surprised you don't remember it....my first visit to BKK was in 1998 and Rome had fallen well-before then. I only knew of it from the excellent gay guide I carried with me, in which the author crowed over its demise. In those days, the telephones on each table in The Telephone actually worked!

[Jellybean]

I'm not surprised you don't remember it....my first visit to BKK was in 1998 and Rome had fallen well-before then. I only knew of it from the excellent gay guide I carried with me, in which the author crowed over its demise. In those days, the telephones on each table in The Telephone actually worked!

Thanks for the information Oliver2.

Your mention of the year 1998 prompted me to look at my only copy of the international gay guide, Spartacus, which coincidentally is for the year ‘98/99.

It has a small entry for Rome Club and it mentions a few others, which are still with us and some I have heard mentioned on this forum. And Twilight Bar is listed, from which I assume soi bprà-dtuu-chai got its nick name. I thought members might be interested in reading some of the reviews:

Rome Club
90-96 Silom Road. May reopen as a gay club.

Twilight Bar
38-40 Surawong Road. Go-go bar with the usual show. One of the oldest bars and probably the sleaziest but still popular. First drink is B200.

Screw Boys
Patpong 2, Surawong Road. (Next to Pink Panther, opposite KFC) Go Go shows.

Barbiery
35/3-5 Surawong Road. Gogo bar. Drink B150. Staff speaks English.

Jupiter
31/1-33 Surawong Road. (Next to Suriwong Hotel) Lively A-go-go bar, good shows.

Telephone
114/11 Soi 4 Silom Road. Bar and restaurant. All tables equipped with telephone to ring guys at other tables. Excellent food (Thai and Western). Most popular with Thais and Westerners. Beware the free-lancers.

D. J. Station
8/6-8 Silom Road. Very popular, high energy disco. No free-lancers.

Source: Spartacus International Gay Guide '98/99

[kittyboy]

I'm not surprised you don't remember it....my first visit to BKK was in 1998 and Rome had fallen well-before then. I only knew of it from the excellent gay guide I carried with me, in which the author crowed over its demise. In those days, the telephones on each table in The Telephone actually worked!

My first visit to BKK, Chiang Mai, and Pattaya was in 1987. I don't remember all the gay venues ..just recollections of having a good time.
I do seem to recall in 1987 (it could have been on a later trip) going to the telephone bar..etc. God that was 32 years ago!

I started making regular trips to Thailand in the 1990s. As I recall my first trip to Babylon Sauna was around 1992-3. If I recall correctly it was on the same soi but a different building? Is that correct? A taller building? Or is it in the same location but they remodeled extensively?

I also stayed at some gay guesthouse (Aquarius?) that was a residence converted into a guesthouse. As I recall I looked it up a few years ago and it closed due to some scandal?
Damn my memory is off.

[frequent]

As I recall my first trip to Babylon Sauna was around 1992-3. If I recall correctly it was on the same soi but a different building? Is that correct?

Yes

[Smiles]

" ... I also stayed at some gay guesthouse (Aquarius?) that was a residence converted into a guesthouse. As I recall I looked it up a few years ago and it closed due to some scandal?
Damn my memory is off."

Well well well Kitti ... the Aquarius Hotel (in the West we would call it more like a motel). The first joint I ever laid my weary head ~ on a pillow ~ in Bangkok (circa 2000).
I met Suphot there (he was the desk check-in guy, the cooker-of-breakfasts in the morning, and in the evening, the bartender.

The Aquarius had a huge police raid in November 2000 regarding under-age Burmese boys (or Cambodian, can't remember which). The owner, an older man named Khun Vichai ... you might recall that? Eventually cleared his name and business in the Thai Way ... i.e. gobs and gobs of money, but the hotel started to go downhill after that because of the notoriety, but stayed open for at least 10 more years. Mr Vichai apparently was stricken with depression and died sometime around 2012-13 (not exact on that). On top of that there was also a huge rigmarole for years regarding Vichai's family and their desire to get their hands on his quite substantial riches ... which hardly helped his depression.

You and your handle Kittyboy: Suphot changed his name about six or seven years ago (a very common thing to do with Thais). His new name is Kittyphot. Thus banks, land offices, anything governmental use his new name, but nobody else in his family, amongst his friends and acquaintances, myself etc etc etc ... everyone still calls him (Pot or Suphot).

(Just interested FYI: Suphot ~ and Kittyphot ~ are still living together after almost 20 years. For obvious reasons I have heart warming thoughts regarding the Aquarius).